It was a hectic harvest season, with home and commercial harvests extending over 5 consecutive weekends.  However, with over 95% of the grapes in, it looks like we survived.  We are blessed with reliable clients who stayed on top of the ripening situation, adapted plans as necessary, and came to pick up their grapes with clock-like precision.  The region’s grapes generally experienced a spike in sugars from prolonged high heat and arid conditions beginning in late August, capping off what had been a fairly well-behaved season after the unexpected late spring frost.  We think the grapes turned out quite well, but the proof will be in the pudding, and we look forward to tasting the efforts of our client winemakers.  We were excited to receive samples of some of those efforts from the fabulous 2007 vintage, and will be popping the cork on those in the coming weeks.

Out in the vineyard, we have small quantities of barbera and primitivo best suited for dessert wines still hanging, as well as a late-ripening Portugese varietal in our experimental plot.  We look forward to some quiet weekends and hopefully plenty of winter rain as we turn to the arduous task (but somebody has to do it!) of frequent tasting of this year’s developing wines to make sure they are progressing suitably….

Harvest Update:

We have a policy of posting the data we get, not the data we want to get.  And actually, even the data we got is not so bad.  The forecast for this week just got worse and worse in terms of heat and dryness, such that it became our fourth multi-day incursion into the 100’s of the season, and the second in as many weeks.  While the barbera fared beautifully, continuing their gentle climb toward ripeness, we definitely experienced some dehydration, as judged by a spike in sugars, in the primitivo.  The good news, however, is that ripeness as judged by sugar/acid ratio distinctly improved, such that the grapes are now pretty much text book for harvest.  The juice in our weekly sample was a deep red color, also clearly signalling that “it’s time”.  Moreover, as the dehydration, which is also evident in an increased incidence of shrivel, is quite recent, we expect that the grapes harvested this weekend will have ripe fruit flavors without the raisiny notes that would eventually follow.  The primitivo, in short, is ready.

The barbera looks to be about 2 weeks out, and the cooling weather ahead should give it a fighting chance to come in for a soft landing…we remain optimistic.

HARVEST UPDATE:

Steady as she goes!  This week’s sunny but cooler weather, coupled with ample watering, have allowed the grapes to make steady progress toward ripeness without a spike in sugars.  We are beginning to see shrivel in some bunches in both vineyards, but this remains the exception rather than the rule, and some of those bunches were included in this week’s sample.  It looks to us like this weekend would be too early for the primitivo for most of our clients’ preferences, but next weekend looks promising.  The barbera remain on track for early-mid September.  We plan to take the next reading next Thursday or Friday.